Hello, could you kindly forward or post the message below (or a variation of it) for the members of your astronomy club or anyone else that could be interested and forward it to any other club you may know if that is possible ? This application has just been published on the Apple App Store and is specifically designed to help in the observation of Messier objects as well as with the March Marathon. Time is short and we would like people to be able to use it before March. After giving a free coupon to every club that requested them, I only have a few left at this time for the application, but if your astronomy club needs one, contact me.

We are interested in any suggestions you can make. We also hope to translate in more languages if we can cover the costs.

The application “Messier Marathon” for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch has just been published on the Apple Store and should be of interest to amateur astronomers who want to take part in the March Marathon or just enjoy the Messier objects any night of the year. The application can be found at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messier-marathon/id594617818?mt=8

The application includes photos, maps, trajectory plots, information on the 110 Messier objects as well as management of the status of the observation. A sky map with all currently visible Messier objects and a red mode is also included. For those who want to do a marathon, it calculates visible Messier objects for any night of the year and includes the March marathon order.

You can sort objects by elevation, magnitude, constellation or number and filter by availability and object type. (For a Nebula only evening). In addition, a new feature to point you to the correct position in the sky will be available shortly for all objects.

This application is designed for efficiency, simplicity of use and speed during observation, not requiring menus or keyboards input to select objects in order to allow you to concentrate on the observation. Not to mention that in the case of the Marathon, you do not want to waste time fiddling with commands.

Most of the photos provided were done by an amateur astronomer in our club. The first article on the application will come out this month in the “Astronomie” magazine of France.

Of course, we would be pleased for any feedback or suggestions and hope the application will help you enjoy the Messier objects any night of the year as well as during the marathon.

An update (1.1) will shortly be available (please check in early March on the Apple App Store) and will include a ‘point-me to’ feature to the object in the sky-